Family Togetherness
by Jediempress
Summary: COMPLETED! Riku is forced to spend time with his brothers. The search for Mother begins. Advent children stuff.
1. Chapter 1

Uh, happy Mother's Day? Yeah. Don't ask.

Family togetherness

"Riku."

The silver haired teen looked up momentarily from his video game. Unfortunately, it was just long enough for Sora to start a seven hit combo and decimate his fighter. He turned back just in time to see YOU LOSE flash across the screen. "Damn it, Sephiroth. Why do you always make me die?"

The man raised an eye at the question. "I believe it is I who has the unfortunate habit of dying around here."

"You know what I mean." Riku rolled his eyes at his brother. Sora mumbled something among to lines of 'go, Cloud' under his breath which hopefully Seph didn't hear. "What do you want?"

"You know what today is, you should know what is required."

Sora frowned in thought, trying to remember what was special about today. "Uh, it's Sunday. You want him to start going to church or something?"

Sephiroth studied Sora, clearly debating whether it was worth the effort to fry him where he sat. It wasn't, at least not yet. He didn't even attempt a reply to the riddiculus question.

Riku was staring at Sephiroth in disbelief. "You aren't serious, are you?"

"Indeed I am."

"But, I thought you hated her now for manipulating you and all that." Riku protested. "I never heard her and I hate her. Why in the worlds should we-"

"She is Mother and therefore is to be respected." Sephiroth interrupted smoothly. There was a pause. "Even if she happens to be a manipulative, sadistic, meglomanic, angel-posing alien bitch."

Sora opened his mouth, likely to comment on the similarities of that sentence and what most thought of Sephiroth himself. Riku quickly covered his mouth and gave him a pointed look. _Don't you dare._

Turning back to Sephiroth, Riku gave him a hard look. "Why should we respect her? She hasn't done anything for us. She's only made everyone miserable and drove you completely insane. Why the hell would I want to do anything for her on Mother's Day?"

Sephiroth was silent a moment. Now Riku could hear the quiet commotion in the next room. He tilted his head and slowly realized who was making the racket.

Seph's next words confirmed his suspicion. "Because it keeps those three from destroying the house."

Even Sora could now here the childish voice chanting, "We're going to find Mother. We're going to find Mother."

"Is Loz crying again?"

"Of course." Sephiroth sighed.

Riku stood and gave Sora a pleading look. "Please say you're coming with."

Sora really wanted to say hell no. He hated dealing with the triplets at least as much as the other two did. He wasn't even one of the brothers and he'd had to console Loz twice, help Yazoo fix his hair at least three times, and put up with Kadaj threatening to do horrible things to him in his sleep.

"Yeah, I'm coming." He turned off the game console and got to his feet. "But, what are we doing?"

Kadaj was still chanting in the background. Sephiroth was beginning to appear disgruntled. "I've obtained a ballistic mold of a woman's head. It's been painted blue and hidden. We'll let them go find it."

"Like an Easter egg hunt?" Sora scratched his head then shrugged. "If that's what it takes. Where'd you hid it?"

A malicious smiled crossed Sephiroth's face. There was only one thing that made Sephiroth that dementedly happy. Riku placed a hand to his forehead. "You didn't."

"But I thought you enjoyed visiting Cloud."

"He is going to kill you again for beinging Kadaj anywhere near him."

"He deserves it for disowning his family." Sephiroth turned toward the door. "Besides, you know how they love to play with their estranged brother."

Riku and Sora exchanged hesitant looks before following the elder man. This was going to be a long day.


	2. Chapter 2

Due to popular demand, the search of Mother continues. Probably one more, maybe two depending on response so if you want more, you know what to do.

I love screwing around with Square-Enix's characters.

Riku and Sora sat on the grassy knoll, sipping on fruit smoothies. Sephiroth stood slightly behind them with an iced coffee. The brothers' eyes were hidden by sunglasses but the matching frowns totally gave away their irritation. Sora simply looked confused.

He glanced to Riku. "Exactly what are they doing?"

"Tracking."

"Tracking what?"

"I've convinced them Mother was taken through here." Sephiroth explained. "Since they believe everything I tell them, they're searching."

"Oh," Sora nodded. Then he looked up. "Uh, they're not going to actually find anything, are they?"

Riku whapped him in the back of the head. "Of course not, you goof. Mother's gone forever."

"Yeah, but he said…"

Riku pulled his shades down just enough to peer over them at his older brother. "You weren't serious about the Cloud thing, where you?"

"Absolutely." Seph watched calmly as Kadaj suddenly shoved Loz out of his way and began running toward a small cluster of bushes. Shoved triplet imedietly started crying and looked to the group on the hill. Sephiroth sighed, muttering. "Remind me to never try reproducing again."

Riku snickered. "Looks like you're going gay."

"With my luck, I'd find the one man in the worlds who can get knocked up. Loz, get your sissy ass up and go after him. You're bigger than Kadaj of Gaia's sake!"

Sora looked over the surrounding area. "Hey, uh, where's Yazoo?"

The other two glanced about then frowned to each other. The long haired, quietest of the trinity was no where to be seen. Riku slowly got to his feet. "Sora and I will go find him."

Sora followed him up. As they walked toward the other side of the knoll, they could hear Loz whine. "She's not here."

"She's somewhere." Kadaj's voice faded. "We should…"

"I hope you realize how much I love you to put up with them, Riku." Sora placed his hands behind his head.

"Yeah, and I promise someday I'll make it up to you."

The pair wandered around the park, not really trying too hard to search. It was rather difficult to miss any of the Jenova boys with their silver hair and height. They all tended to stand out in a crowd.

"There he is." Riku pointed toward the petting zoo. Indeed there was Yazoo, knealing before a baby chocobo smoothly running a hand along its neck. Approxamitely five children and their mothers and/or teenage sisters surrounded him.

"Great." Sora mumbled. "Once again, find the gaggle of girls and you'll find Yazoo."

"It's a good thing he's not horribly bright." Riku commented as they headed toward the little group. "He turns on that charm and he could have his own army of fangirls at his beckon call."

"Yazoo." Riku called for him. "What's up?"

The young man didn't bother looking at him. "Mother isn't here and the other two won't listen to me."

"You're looking for your mom?" One of the children asked. "Is she missing?"

"Yes. She's been gone a long time." Yazoo answered.

"We'll help you look!" A boy volunteered.

"Yeah," Two teenaged girls agreed. While one kept her attention on Yazoo, the other was now giving Riku an appraising eye.

Riku despised being treated like a piece of meat. There was only one truly effective way to stop it. He stepped closer to Sora and threw an arm around the brunette's slim shoulders. Already knowing the routine, Sora lifted a hand to Riku's chest.

Giving the girls an easy smile, he said. "I think we've got enough help but thank you for the offer."

Several of the girls looked crest fallen and a few mothers slowly steered their children away. Apparently, tall, handsome strangers in black leather were okay but gays were dangerous.

"Come on, Yazoo. I think we're about ready to leave the park."

"Are we going to see Brother now?" Yazoo stood.

"Possibly." Riku answered neutrally.

"Good because I know that's were Mother is."

"How do you know that?" Sora had separated from Riku and the three were leaving the petting zoo.

"I heard Big Brother say so."

The Keybladers exchanged quick looks. So did Yazoo also know this was a total farce? And if he did, why was he going along with it? Shrugging to one another, they followed him back to the others.


	3. Chapter 3

One more after this. I hope it's still enjoyable.

Please review.

Kadaj walked determinedly ahead of his brothers. Since he seemed to know where he wanted to go, the other two simply followed him. Of course, they usually did just trail after him.

Sephiroth, Riku and Sora kept themselves back a bit. It was way too much to hope that no one would realize they were with the other three. The physical resemblance was waay too strong. At least Sora could deny any relation.

"Hey, Seph?"

The man grimaced. "I have told you repeatedly to refrain from calling me that. Next time, I will make sure you do not forget."

"Ok." Sora clearly wasn't threatened. "So, when Kadaj, Yazoo, and Loz were made, why were they made so… childish?"

"I do not know." He sighed. "I admit they were not one of my brighter ideas. Had I known Riku existed, they would not."

"Thanks, I think." Riku flicked his eyes toward Sephiroth. "Though you would have probably found me rather uncooperative."

"You think?" Sephiroth sounded mildly amused. "Xehanort found you rather easy to manipulate and you weren't even related."

The glare Riku shot at him made Sora cringe. Before he could lash out and likely cause a scene, Sora grabbed his arm. "We probably shouldn't let them get too far ahead."

The pair jogged ahead, now between the triplets and their creator. Riku was muttering darkly. "Stupid bastard. I really hate him."

"Then why do you keep visiting?"

"I don't know. Compulsion I guess." Riku glanced over his shoulder. Sephiroth was calmly walking behind them looking like the commanding presence he truly was. "He really isn't that bad."

"Yeah." Sora had to reluctantly agree. After nearly being killed by the man twice, he still couldn't believe he was now… well, spending time with the guy.

"Here's where the fun begins." Riku watched ahead.

Kadaj had marched up to the door of a small house and in a show of manners, rapped politely on it. The other two had fanned out to flank him. They waited patiently.

The door opened, revealing a medium build, blonde man who upon seeing his visitors tried slamming the door. Kadaj held out a hand and prevented the door from closing. "Hello, Big Brother."

"What do you want?" Cloud folded his arms in irritation.

"Where's Mother?" Loz asked.

"Oh for the love of Shiva we're not doing this again."

"We know Mother is here." Yazoo practically whispered.

Cloud looked out and saw Riku and Sora. He narrowed his eyes at them. "Why are they here?"

"Uh, hi, Cloud." Sora waved a little.

"Hello, Cloud." Sephiroth's deep, smooth voice came from behind him.

The blonde stared at Sephiroth for a long moment. "I thought we declared a truce."

"We did." Sephiroth lightly smiled. "I'm simply taking the boys out to play."

Cloud was about to retort angrily when a crashing sound was heard from inside the house. He took a step back, eyes fixed on Sephiroth. "So help me if that was something of Leon's…"

Loz suddenly reappeared in the doorway. "She's not here."

"Then you aren't looking hard enough." Sephiroth explained.

"Sephiroth." Cloud spoke with an edge in his voice.

"Perhaps the three of you should look outside."

"Okay." Loz turned. "Brother says to look outside."

Another crunching noise.

Cloud's shoulders slumped. "Why me?"


	4. Chapter 4

Only one more after this. Thanks to those of you reading this silliness.

Please review.

Oh, you can take the bit at the end any way you want. There's no intent behind it.

"Wow, you finished it." Riku commented, looking over the garden that was now being trampled by Kadaj.

Cloud said nothing, gritting his teeth. He'd put a lot of time into that garden and considering how lousy he was with growing things, he was quite proud at how well it had been doing.

Loz was off to the side, nose wrinkled in disgust. "Gross. How can you stand it?"

"Oh, they're just plants." Kadaj said in annoyance. "They're not like those one's in that church. Those were nasty."

"Those are Aerith's flowers." Cloud's right hand twitched.

"Yes and she's dead." Yazoo smirked. "Big Brother killed her for interfering with Mother's efforts to cleanse this world."

"Aerith's not dead." Sora protested before Riku could shut him up. Cloud's hand went up to hit his head.

There was a chorus of 'what's?'

"Good going, Sora." Riku muttered.

Sephiroth actually glared at Cloud. "That Centra bitch is alive?"

"I'm not about to tell you."

Sephiroth smirked and Cloud paled. Oh, he knew that look. "Well, Cloud, perhaps we shall take our leave then."

"But Mother-" Loz overheard them and teared up.

"Wait! I think, no it's just a rock." Kadaj threw the object over his head turning just enough to aim it for Sora's head. The brunette teen was able to scramble out of the way but ended up running into Sephiroth in the process.

Sephiroth picked him up by the neck and tossed him in Riku's direction. "Riku, you and your little friend here watch over. I need to have a little chat with Strife."

"We have nothing to talk about." Cloud protested sternly.

"I believe we do." He took the top of Cloud's head and turned him toward the house. Cloud squirmed away but followed, cursing quietly the whole way.

"You know, there are people out there who think they're a couple." Riku said thoughtfully.

"Yeah?" Sora tilted his head. "I don't see it."

"Neither do I." Riku refaced the garden. "Then again, people think we're dating."

"Yeah, well we don't exactly try to dissuade them either."

"True." Riku frowned. "Great, where'd Loz go?"

"He's on the side of the house." Yazoo answered.

"I'll go." Sora volunteered. He headed across the yard toward the garage. He didn't find Loz outside. Taking a chance we went around, finding the garage open and Loz inside it. "What are you looking at?"

"Who's Squall?"

"Squall?"

"There's a bunch of boxes marked Squall."

Oh, Leon must be storing stuff here. Cloud had mentioned Leon having things in the house earlier. "He's a friend of ours."

"Oh, maybe he has Mother." Loz began pulling boxes down.

"No." Sora stopped him. Leon would kill them if his things were messed with. He didn't want to see a Gunblade duel breakout between Leon and Yazoo. "Seph said she was in the backyard."

"Brother doesn't want us to find her. Maybe he and Squall re-hid her."

Damnit, why was Loz suddenly using his brain?

"I found her!" Kadaj's voice was loud enough the whole neighborhood had to have heard him. "Mother! I found Mother!"

Loz's face lit up. He dropped the box in his hands, which made a loud clinking noise and ran out of the garage. Sora winced, praying it wasn't something important that broke before chasing after him.

The three hovered around the surprisingly small black box Kadaj held. Sora came up beside Riku. "That's what they've been looking for?"

"Yep." Riku's expression was a bit tense. "Great job, guys. Why don't you give her to me and we can tell Brother we have her?"

"I wanna see her." Kadaj stated trying to open the box.

"You don't want to open that, Kadaj." Riku took a few steps toward them. "You'll hurt her."

"No, we won't." He finally got the tape off and slid the top from the box. All three peered in and after a moment frowned. "This, this isn't Mother."

"Sora, get Sephiroth now." Riku muttered.

Sora didn't wait for him to finish the sentence. He raced into the house, searching. He ran into the front room and froze in the archway. Sephiroth was bent over Cloud who was on the floor, shirt nearly ripped off.

"Uhhh…" What did he just walk into?

"What?" Sephiroth bit out.

"Kadaj opened the box."

Sephiroth sprang off of Cloud and rushed past Sora. Sora stood there blinking at Cloud. The blonde picked himself up off the floor and straightened his mangled shirt. He walked calmly toward Sora, as if nothing had happened. "We should help him."

"Uhhh… yeah."


	5. Chapter 5

Last chapter! I thank all of you for finding this as amusing as I did and hope it's enjoyable to the end. Your reviews are greatly appreciated!

Thank you!!!!!

Sephiroth and Riku stood calmly facing off a fuming Kadaj, a crying (again) Loz, and a mildly curious Yazoo. At least they seemed calm. Their postures were relaxed and while Sora and Cloud couldn't see their faces due to their backs being to them, both could picture the matching expressions of indifference.

"What did you do with Mother?" Kadaj hissed. In his hand he held the waxy head. He lifted it up. "This is not her!"

"You have a terrible memory, Kadaj." Sephiroth's tone was casual. "You're the one who destroyed what was left of her body."

Both Loz and Yazoo turned to stare at their brother. "What?"

Kadaj frowned for a moment before his eyes narrowed. "You told me I had to take in her cells to be whole again."

"He didn't say eat her head." Riku spat out without thinking. Man, Kadaj could be stupid.

"I didn't do that!" The insane triplet launched himself at Riku, yanking his twin bladed sword out.

Sephiroth smoothly stepped to the side, out of the way. Riku summoned Way to the Dawn and blocked the downward blow Kadaj threw at him. While those two went at it, Sephiroth looked to the other remnants. "Well?"

They glanced at one another. Loz sniffled. "So, Mother's… gone?"

"Forever." Sephiroth waved a hand and turned away. "There is only us."

"So you lied." Yazoo concluded quietly. He took a small step forward. "That wasn't nice, Brother."

"At what point was it said I was a nice person?"

"But-" Loz hiccupped. "We're a family."

"No, we are not. I made you in an effort to return. The three of you are simply aspects of my own personality."

Sora leaned over to Cloud. "So does that make them, like, his Nobodies?"

Cloud was watching Riku and Kadaj. "I suppose. They're something like that."

While Riku was holding his own against Kadaj, it was pretty clear he was struggling. It was difficult to effectively fight against an insane person and Kadaj was about as crazy as they came. Crazy with little intelligence.

Sora followed along. He knew every one of Riku's moves and when he saw bring forth a Dark Aura, he knew Riku was getting annoyed. Kadaj was laughing at Riku's attempt and that just angered Riku further. Then Kadaj's face went totally blank and Sora knew Riku was in trouble.

Just as Kadaj suddenly slipped into what could only be called berserker mode, Sora jumped in with Oblivion drawn. He and Riku stood side by side, facing off Kadaj's rain of blows.

Riku spared a second to glance over. "Didn't need your help."

"Well you got it anyway."

Knowing those two would be fine, Cloud returned his attention to Sephiroth, Loz and Yazoo. The two/thirds of a whole where stalking their creator clearly unhappy with his words. They said nothing, merely glaring at him. Sephiroth didn't seem to be paying them any mind.

Loz attacked first, dropping low and attempting to stun charge Seph at the hip. Sephiroth only kicked him in the face sending him sprawling. Yazoo raised his gunblade to the wanna be god's face. With a light push, Sephiroth shoved him away.

By now, Loz was coming back.

Cloud felt a little left out. He could have gone back in and let these crazy people wear themselves out but it was likely his entire backyard would be destroyed in the process. He was tired of being the unwilling playmate. He wasn't related to them, despite their belief. He wasn't even friends with them.

Loz ran at Sephiroth, leaping at him. He threw his arm back to strike… and was slammed to the ground. Flames encircled him and he yelled out. Sephiroth simply tsked him. The Fire spell dissipated and Loz was unconscious.

Calmly, Cloud removed First Tsurugi from his back. While Yazoo was again aiming for Sephiroth's head, Cloud swung up from the hip and sliced off the blade just as the trigger was pulled. The angle of the strike was just so and the energy backfired in Yazoo's face.

He crumpled down beside Loz.

Sephiroth looked at Cloud with a raised eye. Cloud returned the sword to his back and shrugged a bit. "Living with Squall teaches you a few things about Gunblades."

Both turned to other half of the yard. Riku and Sora seemed to be having the time of their lives tag teaming Kadaj. Each took a turn at him and he cursed them both. None of them looked tired.

"We should stop them." Cloud commented in his quiet voice.

"Why?" Sephiroth folded his arms. "They seem to be enjoying themselves."

"Because my yard can't take anymore."

Sephiroth toyed for a moment with the idea of simply torching the yard since Cloud seemed so… suburban about it. Their truce had made the blonde soft. Deciding it wasn't worth the effort, he called out. "End it, Riku."

The shaggy haired teen nodded and nudged Sora. Sora grinned in unspoken agreement. The pair raised their Keyblades and went into Session. A rather spectacular light show later and Kadaj was out.

"Bit of an overkill." Sephiroth said dryly as the boys approached.

Riku and Sora shrugged. "It was fun."

"So, uh, how are we getting them home?" Sora glanced around.

"Riku." The ex-general turned to drag Yazoo by the arm. He then collected Kadaj.

"Come on, Sora. We got Loz and he's heavy."

As Sephiroth waited, he idly spoke. "I'll send them back after their nap to fix the yard."

Cloud shook his head. "I'll call first. I don't want them back until Leon returns. He can help me keep an eye on them."

Riku and Sora lugged Loz over and Riku opened up a dark corridor. "You following us or teleporting?"

"I'll follow." He turned. "Thank you, Cloud for providing yet another delightful family gathering."

Cloud glared but it was more tired than angry. "Yeah, well don't make the next one any time soon."

As the Jenova boys and Sora left through the portal, Cloud surveyed the ruins of his yard. He was already dreading Father's Day.


End file.
